In a Chain of Flowers
by Secret Agent Smut Girl
Summary: When a post-University project pans out, Hermione is forced out of comfortable routine by a mystery.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- JKR owns everything remotely HP related. My bastardization of the characters is mine and when I get a solid plot that will be mine, too. This story is dedicated to Jade, my lovely beta, who graced my HP work with her approval.

**In a Chain of Flowers**

            At precisely 6:45am the alarm clock jumped to life, spewing the newest fad in pop-tart music through the darkened bedroom. Nothing stirred amongst the piles of white sheets at the sound, though on one of the pillows a large ginger cat whined in irritation. After a moment, even that small movement stopped as the cat resumed its' dreaming.

            Regardless, the alarm droned on.

            In the adjacent living room there was little more movement. The air-conditioner hummed softly in one of the front windows, blocking out the morning sounds of the city beyond the glass. The small television in the corner was unplugged and dusty, silent and rarely used. Through the wall, the tinny sounds of the radio could be heard.

            The apartments' only occupant sat motionless in the space between the couch and the beat up coffee table. Books and notebooks, defaced with pencil markings and yellow highlights, were open and strewn about. An empty, well-used, mug sat perilously close to the edge of the table. It was this balance that held Hermione Granger in thrall, her notes and work having lulled her into a near catatonic state.

            She hadn't slept in nearly sixty hours. She hadn't showered in eighty. She hadn't moved, at all, in two. It was in that scary state that her roommate found her, just after the alarm had given up its one hour of shouting.

            "Jesus Christ Almighty, have you been sitting there since I left?"

            Hermione looked up, startled, before blinking several times and stretching back against the couch like a cat. "Did you say something, Seamus?"

            Rolling his eyes, Seamus dropped his bag and shrugged out of his sweatshirt before pushing the cup away from the edge of the table and pulling his yawning roommate to her feet. He'd been gone since the previous Sunday, five days earlier, leaving her in the apartment with whatever project she'd dragged home from the University for her vacation. He'd be lying if he said he'd expected to return and find her in any other state.

            "How was Hogwarts," she managed between yawns and idle scratches at her wild hair. Looking up at his lopsided grin, she scrunched her nose before yawning yet again. "I can't believe I lost track of the time, again. Anything new in Scotland?"

            Seamus laughed, pushing her toward the apartments' tiny bathroom. "I am going to run you a shower and then tuck you safely in bed. Then I will tell you all about my trip."

            "I've forgotten what my bed looks like."

            "That, sweets," he dead-panned as he flipped on the bathroom light, casting harsh light on the white tiles, and turned the shower tap toward the 'H', "does not surprise me in the least."

            Hermione laughed and shimmied out of her rumpled pajama bottoms, and pulled off her camisole. Seamus looked on with amusement as she tried to yawn and unclasp her bra at the same time, but she paused in the hopeless endeavor long enough to motion him out. "Scoot, I have a date with that water."

            "Says the girl who smells," he teased, getting in a good tweak to her bushy hair before the door was promptly pushed shut in his smirking face. 

***

            Facing the spray of water, Hermione bit back a groan as her body succumbed to the heat. Her joints ached, her eyes burned, and for the life of her she couldn't figure out what day it was. Her work, as it had a tendency to do, had sucked her in full force, leaving her oblivious to the real world. She was so damned close to breaking it, but her body had other ideas.

            Stupid body.

            Stepping out of the shower turned out to be just as traumatic as stepping in. Her relaxed muscles threatening to falter, she barely slipped on Seamus' robe before staggering into the living room and being hit with icy air. Seamus barely looked up from the tiny kitchen at her entrance, from what she could tell he was throwing away everything he could get his hands on.

            "Go to bed," he ordered, dropping an armful of Chinese take out containers into the bin with a look of distaste. Extending an arm, he pointed to her bedroom and said, "It's over there in case you forgot."

            "I can't sleep now. I have to get this figured out," she said in a mutinous tone, throwing herself onto the couch and kicking at her notes. "Some of us do work that involves the brain, you know."

            "You only say that because you, my dear, are afraid of flying," was his reply from the recesses of the refrigerator. 

            "I am not afraid of flying," she muttered, dragging her fingers through her knotted hair. "It's a male sport, anyway. All that broomstick nonsense, and so much work when you can just apparate or take a car."

            Seamus straightened up and snorted. "I stand corrected, you are afraid of heights, and officially without a roommate."

            Grinning, Hermione launched herself off of the couch and threw her arms around Seamus' neck. "That's brilliant! They offered you a position?"

            "They inquired if I would like to fill the position that Madam Hooch left empty and I, being the reasonable sort of lad that I am, accepted without a second thought." Giving her a squeeze, he pushed her wet hair off of her face with a jaunty smile. "Seeing as though term starts end of the month, I will be vacating the premises shortly."

            Hermione grinned up at her friend, pulling his bathrobe tighter. "It's about damn time you got a real job Mr. Finnegan, and stopped your eternal moping around this place."

            With a snort Seamus began pushing her in the direction of her bedroom. "What you see as moping, I see as babysitting, sweets. How much longer do you think you could have sat on the floor staring into space?"

            Mock pouting, Hermione let herself be led. Suddenly, her bed was sounding incredible. Seamus, knowing that he was winning for once, pressed his advantage by depositing her in the bed and pulling the duvet up around her neck. "Sleep, and tomorrow I'll give you all the Hogwarts gossip."

            "Tomorrow we have to shop for Ginny's wedding." She was mumbling into her pillow, but she didn't care. Her bed was so soft, and warm. She didn't even notice when Seamus left the room, or when her cat took up residence on the small of her back. She was asleep.

A/N- This work is in many pieces, not all readable or even written at this point. If at any point you notice anything glaringly wrong, or have any complains please bring them to my attention so I can fix them before I go on. Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: See part one._

**In a Chain of Flowers-** **Part 2**

            Bill Weasley never thought that he'd long for the feel of hot, corrosive sand flaying his skin, searing his eyes, and weighing down his steps. Nor did he think he'd ever long for a Sphinx, a vengeful mummy, or at least a few inventive curses to make the day normal. The reality of the situation was that he was about ten feet into a gigantic spider web in the middle of the Amazon that could have snared one of Charlies' dragons. 

Though he wasn't yet stuck in the clingy silk, he was aware that the webs' occupant was conspicuously absent. As if on cue, his left foot snagged on the web which drawing a string of curses from him. 

"Mother-," he huffed. "What I wouldn't give for a little sunstroke right now."

            Slicing the web away from his foot, he slipped the small knife back into his boot and glared at the tiny spider that was scuttling away from the center of the web. It was his weakness for women that had gotten him into trouble to begin with. After all, there was a saying in the Weasley household; "Bill can't refuse anything that comes in heels or a push up-bra." 

            The prospect of a jaunt down the Amazon on an archeological lead, time off sanctioned by Gringotts of course, had sounded so nice coming from lips coated in strawberry lip-gloss. There had been no mention of spiders, man-eating vines, or lizards even Hagrid would have cringed at. The proposed three days had come and gone three times, and he had the sinking suspicion that he was missing something very obvious.

            /All roads lead into the spider web, eh Weasley? / 

Smirking to himself, he parted the sticky web with his hands and stepped through into an empty space. Dirt below, webbing on all sides, no sky above. The space he'd stepped through was unidentifiable from the rest of the ivory mass, the reason for that triggering something every curse breaker knows.

            Being trapped be it in a web, a pyramid or a woman's bedroom, was not something to face without wand in hand. Rule two of the Bill Weasley creed was much like rule number one of the Moody school- "Constant vigilance!" The first rule was "Trust your instincts", though his own mother told him that "Think with your pants" was more fitting. Either way it was irrelevant to the matter at hand, unless the mistress of the web was a bronzed, busty Amazonian woman.

            He was a lucky guy, but not that lucky. Odds were that it was a mammoth spider, so it was definitely a moot point. With wand in hand, and honed curse-breaker senses on elevated alert, he progressed slowly through the web inch by inch. The process was slow. Jerky or rushed movements would alert the web's owner to potential prey. Inch by inch, with patience that went against the Weasley grain, he made it through the obstacle only to burst through the web and into the most surprising place yet- a clearing, not in the jungle, but in the middle of a ring of mismatched fruit trees.

            Clutching his wand, he got his footing well enough to make it to the center of the ring without embarrassing himself. The ground beneath his feet was packed earth, devoid of the lush plant life of the jungle. All sign of the web had vanished upon his exit. A dense forest of trees now surrounded him and at once his muscles quailed at the idea of moving from the clearing. Effectively he was rooted to the spot.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to make sense of his situation without getting too irrational. Even growing up in a house held together by more charms than stars in the sky, and doing his time at a school that in the best of times was puzzling and bordering on insane, he was unable to explain his situation. Out of a big nasty spider web and into a bloody orchard. 

Out loud he muttered, "From one strange prison to the next."

To his left, a soft voice hummed in outrage, catching him off guard. Turning his head toward the flowering Cherry tree, he was surprised to see a slight female peaking accusingly out from behind the trunk. Then with complete clarity she asked, "Why are human men always so insulting?"

"It wasn't my intention to be insulting. I thought I was alone," Bill admitted with a flash of a smile. The girl was regarding him with very dark almond shaped eyes. She made no move to come completely out of hiding, despite him being held in place and unable to even lift his wand arm up to be threatening. "Listen, I'm not a danger to you."

"I know that." The girl used the same exasperated tone his mum used when talking to Percy. He had to remind himself of how fast things could turn ugly to stop him from smiling. " If you were a danger to me, the insatiably hungry Acromantula who owns the web that you cut through would have had you as part of her afternoon meal."

Apparently, it could have been much uglier. Bill used the only weapon he had available to him and smiled at the dark eyed girl. " I'm coming off as a complete git, just let me explain. I'm a curse-breaker who, until recently, limited himself exclusively to Egypt, you know sand, mummies, more sand? I'm only here as a favor to this girl-"

"That explains it!" The Girl cut him off and giggled buoyantly. Bill had the grace to look confused, but seeing as she'd stopped eyeing him like she had a particularly nasty fate planned for him, he was not going to ask any questions.

She stepped out from behind the tree, looking very pleased with herself. Slight of build, sleek black hair, she was draped in a filmy fabric the same shade as the cheery blossoms' edges. No wonder he hadn't noticed her hidden in the tree; she would have mixed right in. 

Stunned, Bill blurted, "You're a Dryad." 

            "What a smart little curse-breaker!" The Nymph sent herself off into another titter of giggles as she glided around him, sizing him up. "British, you must have been a Gryffindor."

            Bill looked sheepish but recovered nicely, admitting, "I'm not up to my usual standards, being frozen to the ground and scrutinized by a Nymph is a brand new experience for me. Now if you were a Ravenclaw prefect and I was tied starkers to a standard issue four-poster, that would be a completely different story."

            The Nymph snorted. "My first unexpected guest in a two millenni and you have to be a cheeky braggart."

            Now he was back in familiar territory. /Flirt like you've flirted a million times before. Save some face. Come on Bill!/ "Hey now, you could have at least said charming."

            "Were you asked to take up this quest while tied to a bed?" She'd stopped right in front of him and though she was slender, she was tall enough to look him in the eye. Her touch was rougher than he would have thought as she let her fingertips brush across the tanned freckles on the bridge of his nose. No one was going to believe this one when he got home, that was for sure.

            "No, though that would not have been unwelcome." Seeing her questioning look, he explained, "My youngest brother has been mooning over her for ages, I don't think he'd take it too well."

            "Did she tell you what you'd find here?"

            Bill shook his head. "Hermione has a way of thinking ten steps ahead of herself and not filling in the rest of us. She just sent me to scout the area based on whatever research she's doing at the moment. Though if she had told me I was going to run into a pretty girl in the process, I would have at least cast a quick bathing charm before rushing in here."

            "The Sphinxes must love you. You are just as ridiculous as they are." 

Dropping her hands to her sides, she stepped back and freed him from the quasi-body bind she'd kept him in. Overhead, it was still full daylight despite the fact that it should have been well beyond the witching hour.  Not wanting to alarm her, he made no move toward her but only cracked his knuckles. "My name's Bill Weasley."

"Kraneiai, at least that's what the Greeks called me. I have little use for names." She was studying him again with an impassive face and it was rather unnerving. He had a sense that she was more dangerous than the giant spider she'd threatened him with. She had fittingly tree-like stillness and didn't seem to breathe while thinking. After a long stretch of silence, her face brightened and she smiled. She looked so deceptively young. "You can have my treasure, Bill Weasley. The only condition is that you can't look at it, just carry it as is to your Hermione."

There was underlying warning in her words and Bill wondered idly if all the other trees had been men who'd not taken her warning to heart. The Dryad seemed to sense his thoughts and shook her head sadly. "No, Bill Weasley. They were those who were unworthy of my gift, bear no pity for them."

            With the soft brush of her lips across his cheek he found himself out of the unnatural daylight and thrust into the full dark that nature had deemed fitting for the hour. In his hands, clasped with his forgotten wand, was a bundle of the fiery cloth the Nymph had been wearing. Inside was the mysterious treasure, which truly bore no curiosity for him. He could still hear her warning in his mind. Entertaining the thought that being a tree in her care wasn't remotely the worst fate he could think of, he apparated out of the living jungle.

            After all, he had a package to deliver. 

A/N- Thanks for all the encouragement the reviewers left. This fic is sort of an outlet while I try to make sense of 'Follow My Way'. If all goes well both fics will be updated soon. This last year at University has been murder and it's finally ending. Summer should be much more productive.


End file.
